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Porter gathered the broken pieces of what was left of his heart off the ground and tried to use it to help someone besides himself. He swallowed through his pain. “Don’t do what’s easiest,” he told Nash. “Do what’s right.”
Was that what Porter would have to do, too? He didn’t want to, and yet? Reluctantly, he realized that he’d better take his own advice or pay dearly.
“How do I know what’s right?” Nash asked tensely.
Porter chuckled darkly. Nash wasn’t a Slade for nothing. It was time to remind them both exactly who they were.What was right?“Probably the hardest thing,” he said, “unfortunately for you, but… after you do it, then everything else will just fall into place.”
His mind locked on to the memory of that manila envelope that he’d taken from Angel’s car. Those were her work papers. He’d never given them back to her. They were in his room.
Nash broke through his thoughts. “What’s going on with you?”
Everything.Porter groaned. “Nothing.” His brother made a sound of protest, but Porter cut him off. “Really. Sorry, bro, I’m not on top of my game right now. My mind’s a mess.”
Nash grew silent. When he finally said something, he dropped his voice. “You can always talk to me.”
Could he? Could he really? Nash couldn’t even pick up the phone.
“I might not be there,” Nash said, “but I’m stillherefor you.”
Porter felt touched by the sentiment. It was long in coming, but that didn’t matter. Time was irrelevant with them. “I know, it’s just…” This was beyond his brother’s capabilities. Besides that, Nash had enough to worry about. Porter sighed. He needed some time to figure this all out.
Angel… Angel… who are you? What have you done?
“It would be better if we were face to face, Nash,” he said. “Everyone misses you—Ireally miss you…” Nash would have something to say to that, but Porter cut him off before he could. “Shut up,” he said with a reluctant laugh. Nash had asked him to tag along. “I don’t want to hear you say, ‘I told you so.’”
“You’ll be getting more of me than you want,” Nash said, “really soon, I think.” Was that so? Was Nash coming home? Maybe there would be a day that they could put this all behind them. “Thanks for the advice,” Nash said. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll take it.”
That would take a miracle, and yet… even as they spoke, Porter knew that his brother would do the right thing. Now it was Porter’s turn. “Me too,” he told Nash. “Tell me how it goes, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nash ended the call.
Clutching his phone, Porter headed to the house. The dying light of the day stretched out over the white paint of their home’s siding, turning it golden. The vines wove through the railings and the flowers glistened under the burning embers of the sun.
All was as it always was. All was horribly different.
Porter hunted down that manila envelope in his room, and heedless of her privacy, since she’d lost that privilege with her lying, he opened it up and found the paperwork for acquiring Harvest Ranch inside. Funches held a lot of that land. He was at the top of that list, along with dozens of more deeds. As he flipped through the pages, Porter recognized the names of other families in the area—some he hadn’t even realized had put their land up for sale. There were too many papers to go through all at once. His throat constricted as he saw the WhiteBoulder insignia boldly stamped at the top.
She worked for WhiteBoulder. Why the secrecy? Why the intrigue?
Because she was working a scam for her boyfriend, that was why. Maybe they’d had a falling out. Maybe that was just another lie—he groaned—oh, it was definitely a lie! One thing was certain, they were playing this town to get disgustingly rich.
Why’d she drive that car?
Was it all just a cover?
He’d spent how many days and nights working on that piece of junk?
No wonder she’d been so emotional. At least she still had a conscience.
That filled him with relief, but also fury, because she knew exactly what she was doing. She hadn’t pulled back yet. What was it that she was supposed to get from Porter? She’d asked Funches about his land on their way back from the fireworks; she’d even sweetened the deal by suggesting that Funches might get his own convenience store. Personally, that wouldn’t have tempted him, but Funches was drooling over it.
Man, she must’ve thought that he knew exactly what he was doing introducing her to Funches that first time. After all, she’d thought that Porter was the same guy that she’d met in Nashville. Angel must’ve figured that they were soulmates. How confusing for her when she found out that he had no idea what was going on. That would explain why she’d pulled away from him, refused to share her innermost feelings with him anymore.
Oh wow.
Every conversation, every passing comment came to his mind in vivid detail. She’d talked about going clean, even… but that must’ve beenafterthis deal, kinda like how Nash seemed to be toying with that same temptation while they talked on the phone, justifying, justifying, justifying with a little help from West whispering in his ear!
Who was whispering in hers?
